Recent efforts have been directed in developing chips for molecular detection. Of particular interest are DNA chips for sequencing and diagnostic applications. A DNA chip includes an array of chemically-sensitive binding sites having single-stranded DNA probes or like synthetic probes for recognizing respective DNA sequences. A sample of single-stranded DNA is applied to all of the binding sites of the DNA chip. The DNA sample attaches to DNA probes at one or more of the binding sites. The sites at which binding occurs are detected, and one or more molecular structures within the sample are subsequently deduced.
In sequencing applications, a sequence of nucleotide bases within the DNA sample can be determined by detecting which probes have the DNA sample bound thereto. In diagnostic applications, a genomic sample from an individual is screened with respect to a predetermined set of probes to determine if the individual has a disease or a genetic disposition to a disease.
Present molecular detection devices are better equipped to sense an aggregate sample of DNA/RNA rather than individual DNA/RNA strands. The ability to sense individual DNA/RNA strands (which may be either single-stranded or double-stranded) would advantageously reduce the DNA/RNA sample size that is applied to the device for detection purposes.